An account of the wildlife I come across and hopefully pictures to bring the account closer

Monday, 14 November 2011

Monday 14th. November 2011

With the weather returning to grey and damp again , I decided not to venture too far today and settled for a morning visit to Sevenoaks Reserve . I suppose I shouldn't moan too much about the weather , as at least it was decent for my recent days of hedgelaying .I must admit though , at one point on the way to Sevenoaks , I nearly turned around when the mist got very thick and heavy drizzle was falling , but carried on , and must say that it was reasonable whilst on site . A quick look from the viewpoint over the East Lake produced lots of Greylag Geese , Lapwings and Black-headed Gulls and not much else , so I headed for Willow Hide . Snipe Bog Lake , directly outside the hide , produced a good selection of duck species , which included M&F of :

Teal ,

Shoveler , still having a lay in ,

Wigeon and

Gadwall , along with Mallard and Tufted Duck , Coot and Moorhen and two flyby Kingfishers , neither of which even thought about stopping on one of the sticks out front for a photograph . I also scanned the far reedbeds for a first sighting of a Bittern on site this year , but that didn't happen either . Down on Long Lake , the direction that the Kingfishers had come from , just a solitary juvenile Mute Swan and more Mallard were in residence . Checking the far end of the East Lake , no

sign of any visiting Grebes as yet , but several small groups of Tufted Duck , always ready to move at first sight of any movement on the bank . The small grassy area between the East and Long Lake has been cut recently , and I disturbed a Jay and Green Woodpecker who were probably looking for breakfast . The area to the left of and the islands in front of the Public Hide have also been cut and were occupied by several Cormorants , good numbers of Lapwings and a mixed flock of Black-headed and Common Gulls . The best species found though , were at least 20 Common Snipe , nearly all hunkered down of the far sides of the islands , with just the odd one or two on the nearside , like

these two in front of a few of the Lapwings . I didn't see a Little Grebe this visit , but several Great

Crested Grebes , all in their drab Winter plumage , like the one above were seen . Nothing was seen from the Tower Hide and very little from the Slingsby Hide , not even a glimpse of a Water Rail . On

the way back towards the car , I got a distant view of a Little Egret , just before it was driven off by Corvids . In total , 41 species were seen , more than I expected to see given the weather .

A few species of fungi were found on the way around ,

Common Funnel Cap / Clitocybe infundibuliformis , two from the same family ,

Lycoperdon foetidum and

Lycoperdon perlatum ,

Shaggy Ink Cap or Lawyer's Wig / Copinus comatus ,

Shaggy Parasol / Lepiota rhacodes ,

and a species that I posted recently , Wood Blewit / Lepista nuda , but looking very different as gets

older . Still the odd bit of colour around , like this Red Campion / Silene dioica , a member of the Pink family , trying to cheer things up on a dull day .

Nice account Greenie and 41 species doesn't seem too bad. Shame the Kingfishers aren't playing ball but at least you saw them. Thought you might have seen some Siskins,loads over the garden again this afternoon.

Hi Greenie. I reckon 41 species is a good days total for there at this time of year. I do like the Gadwall photo, the male is a attractive bird. The Snipe count you had in one group must have been a nice site. Hopefully the winter passerines should be arriving there soon.